In May 2001, 26 people received sentences ranging from
two years probation to one year in federal prison for acts of nonviolent civil
disobedience at the School of the Americas in November 2000 in solidarity with
the victims of SOA violence in Latin America.

Included in this extraordinary group are Franciscan
sisters Dorothy and Gwen Hennessey, ages 88 and 68, and college student Rachel
Hayward, age 19.

The Hennessey Sisters

Rachel Hayward

SOA Watch Prisoners of Conscience

Prison witness has been a core element of the SOA Watch movement
since its beginning. In the tradition of Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther
King and countless others, SOA Watch activists have used peaceful, nonviolent
resistance to expose the horrors of the SOA and express solidarity with our
sisters and brothers in Latin America. As a result, nearly 50 SOA Watch human
rights defenders have cumulatively spent some 30 years in prison, serving sentences
ranging from 2 to 18 months. Their sacrifice and steadfastness in the struggle
for peace and justice provide an extraordinary example of love in action and
have given tremendous momentum to the effort to close SOA.